Disclaimer: I do not own the game in any way and so on.

- Full Moon -

by Cassiopeie

It was yet another end of yet another day in this journey. The daylight had transformed into twilight, and then, the darkness of the night had fallen over the kingdom of Hyrule. It wasn't an unpleasant darkness, though. It was not the darkness of evil that slowly was eating up this sacred land. Tonight, it was just the ordinary darkness that told the people to go to sleep.

But they couldn't sleep. They had been having a hard time falling asleep ever since this quest had begun. How could one sleep calmly while being fully aware of the evil that was threatening everything you had come to know? No, it was impossible.

So Link and Midna usually spent most of the night staring into the sky. And this night was no exception. In fact, this night was very well suited for sky-gazing. No clouds were covering the pale, silver moon or the twinkling little stars shattered over the dark night sky.

This fine night, Link and Midna had chosen a small cave as their shelter, sitting next to each other, close to the cave's entrance. They knew they were supposed to sleep. They knew that they should take advantage of the opportunity to rest, an opportunity that was rarely given to them. Being a hero was though, after all, and it took a lot of time and energy. But how could one sleep when the world was on the edge of destruction?

Despite that, Midna herself thought that the nights of the light world was calming. In the Twilight Realm, there was no difference between day and night – the clouds of twilight were always covering the sky, no matter what. But the nights here always whispered to her to rest and forget all of her, and Link's, duties. At night, it was like they weren't shouldering the destiny of both this world and the Twilight Realm at all, and she loved it. She cherished these moments of serenity.

She also thought that the light world was beautiful. It was completely different from her world, but she liked that difference. She liked the varying landscapes, the ever changing sky, and the shining sun that gave life to it all.

Its denizens were completely different too… especially…

"Hey, Link" she said to interrupt her own thoughts, that had been moving dangerously close a forbidden topic. "What's that big, pale thing?"

"What?" the blue-eyed hero said, wondering what she meant.

"That thing" she said and pointed with her little imp hand at the shining silver moon.

She knew what it was and what it was called, but she just needed to distract herself. Also, the silence had started to disturb her a little bit.

Link turned his head to where she pointed, and smiled, almost imperceptible, at her question.

"That is the moon."

"And that is?"

"It's…" he started, trying to figure out a good way of telling her what the moon was. "It's located far away from here, but its light can be seen from here, and it illuminates the night sky…"

Midna raised one eyebrow.

"Getting poetic, aren't you?" she said. "Okay, then… What are those little shining dots?"

She also knew that they were known as stars, but she felt like talking.

"Those are stars" Link explained. "They're like the sun, but much smaller, and much more far away."

"Uh-huh." Midna replied. "They all look pretty nice. I like this night sky thing"

Link looked at the imp, a bit surprised, as she continued to stare into the sky, before meeting his blue eyes.

"What is it?"

"Say, Midna…" Link said. "Have you… Have you started to like this world?"

Now Midna stared at him a few seconds. She had to think a while, before she came up with an answer:

"Yeah… I guess so." she said, and put her eyes on the solid stone wall of the cave. She noticed, much to her surprise, that she actually was blushing. Why? Why did she feel embarrassed to admit that she had grown pretty fond of the light world? It was nothing to feel ashamed about. Seriously.

Maybe… No. Stop it. What was it with her head tonight? Why was it constantly coming up with these unwelcome thoughts?

Link smiled at her answer.

"You mean it?"

"Yes. It's… It's very different from my world, but I think… I think it's beautiful." she admitted. "Especially this night sky"

There was silence for a few seconds.

"I like the night sky too" Link said, and turned his head to the stars. So did Midna.

Silence again. Calming silence, the thing Midna really liked with the night. No need to worry about anything… except for these thoughts popping up in her head. She tried to ignore them, and just enjoy this as she used to every night. It felt great to just let go of all the things they had to do. To just pretend that they weren't heroes. To just live. She really tried to enjoy it, because she knew that as soon as the sunrise came, this was over. And she knew… that she one day had to leave this beautiful world of light…

A sting of pain reached her heart at that thought. She had got it planned right from the start. She had always been aware of the fact that she couldn't stay here. In the end, she would never become more than a shadow in this world, just as her hated enemy Zant had said. At first, she had just felt pleased at the thought of leaving this world as soon as she had finished her business here. She was the Twilight Princess, after all, she had a people to look after. And at first, she had cared less for the light world than she cared for Zant.

She assumed that she had changed.

Because now, she didn't ever want to leave this world. The thought of saying farewell to it was now unbearable… and inevitable. It wasn't about the beauty of this world, but what she had found here. She had found friends… selflessness… happiness… light. Things that her dark soul hadn't known anything about before she came here. She had truly lived as a shadow in her whole life, without knowing that no one was made of shadows only… or light only… she now had learned that she, and everyone one, had got a light side, that could be discovered if one searched for it… or if somebody else didn't wake it up…

She had found hers. But she feared that she might lose it when she would leave this world. Her heart was split between her will and her duties.

Such deep thoughts that suddenly were coming to her this night. Did that full moon mess with her head? It surely did. She was getting sentimental.

"Midna?"

As always, Link's voice blessed her with a chance of changing the subject of her own thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"You're quiet." he said, and looked into her crimson eyed.

"…Yeah."

"It's not like you." he continued.

"Maybe." she replied. For once, she wasn't sure what to say. Her thoughts about leaving this world still were holding her mind.

"Are you alright?" Link asked. Was he showing concern for her? Maybe Midna wasn't acting like herself, but Link surely was. He was always concerned about others troubles.

Truly the stereotype of a hero.

"I'm fine" she said, though that was a bit of a lie, but she didn't want to let Link know about her thoughts.

"You sure?" he said, not being convinced.

"I'm fine" she repeated, more determined this time. "Just fine."

A cool night breeze blew, but it didn't reach their cave. Once again, Midna turned her eyes to the moon.

"Link?" she said after a while, without turning away her look from the sky.

"Yes?"

"That moon… What does it do exactly?"

The blue eyed hero looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Does it make people… think about stuff they wouldn't think about otherwise… or something like that?"

Midna tried to ask this question without revealing her own thoughts – but she knew that she had failed by the way Link looked at her after her line. Crap.

Link, too, started looking upon the full moon.

"Some people say it does…" he said. "But maybe that's just superstition."

He then looked at her.

"But why do you ask?"

"Oh… just wondered…" she lied – but once again, she failed.

"You did have a reason."

He was seeing right through her. Now how was she getting out of this?

"No, I didn't."

"You did."

He was looking more strictly at her now, telling her that she had to tell him.

She made a compromise with her self, deciding to only tell him a little bit of the truth.

"Fine then…I was… just getting a bit more… sentimental than I use to be."

"About what?"

"About this world."

Somehow, the silence that followed made her want to continue. She really wasn't used to tell Link about what she was thinking about, she rarely told him something about herself at all, because she had too many secrets, too much that she couldn't tell him, too much that she hadn't even realized to herself yet. But now, she did something that could be called "opening up".

"This world…" she started, sounding more serious than she had intended to sound. "This world… has taught me a lot of things…"

There she stopped. She wasn't sure how, or if, she should continue.

Link helped her. As always.

"Like what?" he asked, with kindness.

"Like light." she replied. The words now suddenly seemed to come to her willingly, she didn't need to search for them. "And unselfishness."

She felt relieved to just let her tongue speak out all the thoughts that she only a few minutes ago had wanted to blame on a moon. She knew that this kind of speech wasn't like her at all, but she decided to ignore that and continue:

"I… I want to thank you Link."

They looked deeply into each others eyes, but in different ways. Midna's eyes were solemn, adding the importance of her words. Link's were warm and kind, giving her the friendly pushes that encouraged her to continue.

"I have learned a lot from you light-dwellers… from you and the princess… It was I who dragged you into this whole mess, and yet… yet you stay here and fight… I'm sorry for all this, Link…"

"Don't be." Link said, and gave her a little smile.

"But I am, Link, and I should be!" she said. "And in order to make that up for you… and Zelda…"

She laid her hand on her heart, where the princess of the light world's spirit now resided.

"I will fight along your side for this world too. I promise."

With that, she became silent, still looking into his eyes.

He smiled to her again.

"And I promise that I will fight for your world, as well." he said.

"You will?"

"I said I promise…"

She didn't notice his somewhat tired intonation, as she turned her head to the night sky again. If it indeed was the moon that made her say this, she was grateful to it, because those things had needed to be said.

"Link…"

But when she looked back on him, she saw that her blue-eyed hero had fallen asleep.

She smiled.

He looked so peaceful and calm when he was sleeping. Just like if he always was living a life without troubles, without obligations…

He truly had taught her a lot of things.

It wasn't just the light world she had grown fond of. She felt as much, if not more, pain when she thought of leaving him, as well. She had no idea of when this happened, but happened it had, whether it was wrong or right.

She was a shadow. A shadow who, eventually, had learned of the light. A shadow who now had a heart.

A shadow that now knew about happiness.

The silver shining moon and its star friends were watching over the little imp as she now flied over to the hero's side, and sat down with a little smile on her face. She knew that this wouldn't last forever, but she would enjoy the light now that she could.

The imp fell asleep peacefully, as the night sky of the light world continued to watch over her.